Twelve Steps to Motivate Yourself to Write
By: Ken Brown
Published: 4/14/2021
What can you do when you don't feel like writing?
I received an email the other day from a friend that isn't feeling any motivation to sit down and do the hard task of writing.
With the pandemic she isn't motivated to write. Days blend into sameness when you can't go anywhere and nothing new is happening. She says she isn't involved in Social Media. She's written short stories and submitted them to publishers and is getting rejected. She stopped coming to our writer's group even though we continued to meet online on discourse. She was involved in other writing groups and I don't know if she continued those or not.
Here's a list of actions I take when I'm feeling sluggish about writing.
- Go for a walk.
- Read a book on How to Write.
- Listen to a Podcast on Writing
- Join a Facebook Writer's Group
- Attend a Local Writer's Group
- Writing Prompts
- Go Someplace and People Watch
- Watch a Mystery, Romance or Genre Related TV Show
- Read Poetry
- Outline a Story
- Write a Short Story Without
- Attend a Theater Performance
Exercise is good for waking up your mind and clearing out cobwebs. A long walk in the sun on a spring day will do wonders for motivation to do tasks.
2. Read a book on How to Write. Why?
Grow Into the Role
By: Ken Brown
Published: 3/22/2021
Nobody is Born a High Flyer, you have to GROW into the ROLE.
Do you want to be a great writer? I think most of us when we decide to write a novel and really convince ourselves to finish the project, we expect instant success. We know our work is like James Patterson, Stephen King, George RR Martin, JK Rowling and Sue Grafton novels, only better. Once that first person reads our book there will start a wave of excitement and acclaim over its contents that the desire to read it will reach Tsunami levels making us instant millionaires.
An Eagle feeding its Newly Hatched Eaglet
Don't pretend you haven't thought that at least once in your writing career. Let's face it, we all hope for it, but it's illusive to most of us.
I suggest a better way to see your author career. Imagine you are an eaglet. Today's the day you hatch out of your shell. You aren't full grown. You can't fly. You can't catch a fish. You can't fly out of the path of danger. In fact, you can't even hold your head up straight for more than a second or two and require your parents to feed you.
If you have one book published you're like that eaglet, barely a day old. Your first book may only sell to friends and family. You haven't created a network of super fans. You don't have a newsletter list of eager, ravenous readers anxious for you to finish your next book and ready to consume everything you write. You may not know how to market, how to create a cover or even how or where to publish your novel.
Actual Superfan Results
By: Ken Brown
Published: 2/15/2021
Creating a List of Superfans
Two weeks ago I talked about creating a superfan onboarding sequence. Like you, I read things on the internet, on Facebook and in novel marketing books I find on Amazon. I'm creating this website to show you the steps I'm taking to what I hope will one day be a six-figure income authorpreneurial business. So, I'm going to lay it out to you straight. How did my attempt at creating a list of superfans go?
Superfans to Success
There are a couple of steps to the superfan process.
Step one - acquire the superfan.
Step two - nourish the superfan.
My first step in the process is to acquire the superfan. I decided to take a few steps in late January to grow my superfan list. I wanted to set my first book to permafree. So you can get Eclipse of the Triple Moons, for free at the time of this article.
Building Superfan Onboarding
By: Ken Brown
Published: 1/18/2021
Creating Your Newsletter List of Superfans
Last week was very busy for me. Not only did I publish Book 2, Zita's Revenge, but I also finalized my superfan onboarding sequence. It was a stressful week, as I did things I don't normally do. That always increases the tension I feel. I like doing the same things each day. Here are the steps to create your own superfan onboarding sequence.
What is a Superfan Onboarding Sequence?
What is a superfan onboarding sequence? For me, it's an automated email process, where a reader joins my Adgitize Press Readers Group.
After they join, then I send them five emails to bring them onboard to my readers group.
If they haven't left the group after those five emails, then I add them to my regular list of subscribers.
Today's article is all about the automation sequence.
Author Planning for 2021
By: Ken Brown
Published: 12/30/2020
Thinking about Your Author Business for 2021
I can't believe that we are coming to the end of 2021. It seems like the longest year ever and yet also the shortest year. Covid has definitely disrupted my life. I'm working hard to put the most postive spin on the year that I can.
Even though your goals for 2020 probably exploded somewhere between March and June, you still have to set your sights on 2021 and plan for how you hope the year will turn out. Your main goal as an author is to create and publish books each year, but you should still be thinking about your writing like a business person. I suggest you answer this list of questions to help you with next year's planning and to give you the best chance of victory.
Key Struggles for Authors
When you think of your author business and your career as a novelist, you should consider these key categories.
- Writing
- Editing
- Publishing
- Marketing
- Newsletters
How Many Times Should I Edit My Novel
By: Ken Brown
Published: 12/5/2020
Professional Indie Authors - Edit More than Once
An author in my writer's group, indie published her novel last month. I bought a copy of the book and read it. I was surprised by the fact she released her novel, because I wasn't aware of the progress she'd made on it since COVID hit. People can do amazing things over six to eight months. We hadn't seen the woman since March in the writer's group despite having the sessions online.
I know this author paid for a professional edit, which I recommend to indie authors if you can afford it and I see the editor's handiwork in the woman's writing. The story is much better written than the last time I had a look at a chapter. The other writer's in the writer's group had recommended a number of times, areas where she needed to improve her writing and I wondered how well she resolved those issues in this book. A first time published author will find they've made many mistakes in their first novel. We get blind to our own words and don't see the major flaws in our writing. I'm done reading the book and I wished . . .
Ramping Up Tension
By: Ken Brown
Published: 11/14/2020
Can You Increase Tension in Your Story?
Today, I'm returning to the topic of writing tension into your stories. Why add tension? I'm writing (pick your genre which you don't think needs tension) and say, "I don't need tension." I disagree.
Why Add TensionReaders like it when they can't put a book down. We've all read those stories, you're turning the pages, physically or virtually, and you tell yourself, when I finish this chapter I will: . . .
Adding Novel Suspense
By: Ken Brown
Published: 11/10/2020
How to Make Your Reader keep Reading Long into the Night
I was re-reading my second book, Zita's Revenge, preparing it for the final edit and I like what I'm reading, except for one point.
When I read a Lee Child book, one of his Jack Reacher series, he can create suspense so you want to keep reading, forcing your heartbeat to pump a little faster and harder. I try to replicate that suspense in my novels, but I'm not seeing it on the scale that Lee Child uses the technique.
Foreshadow to Increase Suspense.
In my books, I work hard to encourage the reader to continue on to the next chapter. I use cliffhangers, end the chapter with a question or finish the chapter a paragraph early forcing the reader to question what happened after that point. But I think my writing misses the suspense that is caused by all events leading up to the explosive ending.
To add suspense to your writing you have to learn foreshadowing. Good suspense is a combination of your POV character wanting something with great desire and the possibility of outside forces preventing your character from reaching his goal.
NaNoWriMo 2020
By: Ken Brown
Published: 11/4/2020
Are you participating in NanoWriMo 2020
It's that time of year again when many authors make a promise that this year they will finish their work-in-progress or write the Great American Novel. Some authors have prepared the last two weeks by creating character charts, preparing an outline or prepping by doing world building. How about you? Do you plan to participate in NanoWriMo 2020?
If you're unfamiliar with the term NaNoWriMo, it's stands for National November Writing Month. You can find more information about the process at the NaNoWriMo, a non-profit organization to help writers find their voices and achieve their writing goals. The goal is for writers to write a whole novel during the month, with a novel length of fifty-thousand words. (50,000 words) They hope the writer will make enough progress toward completing a novel they won't hesitate to finish it.
When I was working full time the NanoWriMo experience scared me. Not because I couldn't write that much, it was just another commitment that I needed to make to take away time and cause me stress. NanoWriMo always fell on a month that I already started experiencing an extra night a week to . . .
Can a New Author Make Six Figures
By: Ken Brown
Published: 10/22/2020
How difficult is it for a newbie author to make a six-figure income?
Sometimes you hear stories of authors making six figures with their writing . How do they do it?
How difficult is it to make six figures with your writing? If you tell the newbie author or writer that it's possible are you giving them unrealistic expectations?
What does it really take?Authors making that kind of money are actually good at ...
You have to Start Somewhere
By: Ken Brown
Published: 9/29/2020
Starting at Zero as an Author Entrepreneur
You may be asking, where am I starting? That's a good question. I wrote my first book, Eclipse of the Triple Moons, in May 2018. At the time of this article I have sold 100 copies, sixty percent e-books and forty percent hardcover. Then I quit advertising and now I sell one or two a quarter, mostly to friends that heard I wrote a book and wanted a copy.
In late 2019, I started writing book 2 in the Mountain King Series, Zita's Revenge. I finished the first draft in early March 2020. Then I wrote book 3 in the Mountain King Series, Ring of Consequence, in April 2020. I worked for an entertainment company and when Covid 19 hit and the live theater, sports and concerts stopped happening the company furloughed many employees. I fell into the furlough category. Bad news, because I lost a great source of income, but good news ...
Six Figure Author Journey
By: Ken Brown
Published: 9/19/2020
My journey as an author entrepreneur
Thank you for visiting Adgitize, where I share my journey to becoming a six-figure author.
I will share what I learn from the people that make a living with their writing. Will my results be the same as theirs? Will I surpass their skills? We'll see where my talents lie. Will I be able to market my books? How many books do I have to write to make a living as an author? Can I make it writing in one genre, young adult fantasy, or will I have to write non-fiction? What happens to my young adult fantasy readers if I start a mystery series?
Authors that make six figures have a lot of books in their back list. How fast can they write a book? How does that compare to my writing speed? I have written a 120,000 word book in sixty days, but it takes me four months to edit it to the point I feel comfortable sharing it with beta readers. Yet, the great six figure authors are publishing every thirty days, sixty . . .
Author Profile : Kenneth Brown
By: Ken Brown
Published: 9/15/2020
Author Profile
Ken Brown is an author entrepreneur.
Over the years he has written short stories for his own enjoyment and started a couple of other books, but never had the fortitude to finish the books. Ken found himself distracted by work, family and other business ideas that he thought were more important than writing.
But one day an idea came to him about a boy who wants to rescue a girl and finds that going through a cave he is transported to another planet. A planet where magic is real and the dangers of wild animals, strange people and bizarre customs are just as real.
The book was inspired by a photograph Ken found on the Glacier National Park's website. A simple photograph of the photographer standing in a tunnel in winter in Glacier National Park, Montana. The image showed icicles hanging from the tunnel exit with large boulders hugging the wall behind. Looking at the boulders and rocks, Ken saw images of people, horses and a story developed of a boy searching out the Mountain King.
A dream started to turn this fanciful world into a book and it led three years later to Ken's first published novel Eclipse of the Triple Moons
Two years later Ken's life was turned upside down by Covid 19, as many lives were changed by the virus. From that experience, Ken turned to books and podcasts from authors who make a full time living from their writing. This encouraged him that his goal as a full time author was possible and now was the perfect time to put that goal into action. This website documents Ken's journey to full time author entrepreneur or if you like authorpreneur.
FREE eBook - Available Now
Haskell is orphaned at a young age. He finds himself on the streets as a petty thief, but dreams of becoming a king. Haskell is captured by Gadiel's thugs and must learn to work with them or die. He finds out a secret. He has the ability for magic, but Gadiel wants to control him. He must become more than a common thief to attract the beautiful, young princess. Haskell must become a king.
Haskell - Orphan to King is the Prequel in the Mountain King Series. We recommend you read Eclipse of the Triple Moons first then read Haskell.
eBook - Now Available for FREE
Book 2 in the Mountain King Series